The 44-year-old city native learned recently he had been selected the R.I.I.A.A.A.’s “Male Coach of the Year,” and that he will be feted at the mammoth group’s annual awards dinner at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick on Thursday, April 2.

March 19, 2015

PAWTUCKET â€“ The director of an animal advocacy group said that his organization is â€śvery much opposedâ€ť to a recently-introduced bill that would look to put breed-specific ordinances once again into effect, adding that he feels the bill â€śabsolutelyâ€ť unfairly targets pit bulls.

Dennis Tabella, director of animal advocacy group Defenders of Animals, on Tuesday said that there are â€śa lot of dog bites through the United States,â€ť and that â€śif you look at the statistics, most are not even involving pit bulls.â€ť

March 18th

March 18, 2015

CENTRAL FALLS â€“ Upwards of 15 people are homeless after a wind-driven fire severely damaged a multi-family home on Central Avenue Wednesday afternoon.
The fire, which was called in at about 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, started off as what appeared to be a very small fire that started on the ground level outside of the building at 388 Central Ave., Central Falls Fire Chief Robert Bradley told The Times at the scene on Wednesday.
However, the fire got into the building and spread quickly, and within a matter of minutes, had gone from ground level to the property's attic.

March 18, 2015

PROVIDENCE – Jean-Daniel Roussel had the perfect way to seek feedback at Brown University’s Pro Football Day.

Whenever there was a break in the action, the Pawtucket native and St. Raphael Academy alumnus would glance at Brown offensive coordinator Frank Sheehan. Six NFL scouts came to the Ivy League school, all of them armed with the appropriate tools of the trade.

March 18, 2015

PAWTUCKET â€“ The director of northern Rhode Islandâ€™s district tourism council is warning that the agency could collapse if cuts in Gov. Gina Raimondoâ€™s proposed statewide budget are embraced by state lawmakers.

March 17th

March 17, 2015

KINGSTON — After playing two, slow-down Atlantic 10 Tournament conference games over the weekend, the No. 3 Rhode Island basketball team finally found an opponent that was willing to play an up-tempo, 94-foot contest.

In the first round of the National Invitational Tournament, the Rams and No. 6 Iona traded dunks, 3-pointers, transition buckets and free throws – lots and lots of free throws – for 40 minutes Tuesday night.

March 17, 2015

March 16th

March 16, 2015

PAWTUCKET â€“ A group of students at the Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Performing and Visual Arts picketed outside the school Monday to protest the suspension of a teacher they say spoke out about the controversial new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) standardized test, telling students they had the option not to take the exam.

Within 36 hours after the suspension of teacher Bill Ashton last Friday, a Facebook page in support of Ashton was created, with more than 1,000 likes as of yesterday.

March 15th

March 15, 2015

KINGSTON – Fifteen minutes after the final horn had sounded, St. Raphael Academy veteran mentor Fred Saunders walked out of his girls’ locker room, saw a few media types waiting for him and immediately raised one hand before turning back to compose himself.

March 15, 2015

PAWTUCKET â€“ Four months after a Superior Court judgeâ€™s ruling effectively ended the cityâ€™s 10-year prohibition against owning pit bulls, a state representative has introduced a bill that would look to put breed-specific ordinances once again into effect.

The bill, introduced last week by District 59 state Rep. Jean Philippe Barros (D-Pawtucket), would ostensibly affect Pawtucket and any other city that had a resolution in place prior to a 2013 bill that banned cities and towns in Rhode Island from passing ordinances that were breed-specific.

March 14th

March 14, 2015

PAWTUCKET â€” The police officer captured in an image posted online admitted to briefly dozing off behind the wheel of the vehicle and now awaits consequences after the conclusion of an investigation, a city official told The Times.

Public Safety Director Tony Pires on Saturday said that the
investigation, which was conducted by the Pawtucket Police Department's
Internal Affairs Unit, had reached its conclusion. Pires, however, would not disclose the officer's identity, citing personnel reasons.

The officer â€śindicated it was him and that he was very contrite about

March 13, 2015

March 12th

March 12, 2015

PROVIDENCE â€“ Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, the first woman to present a state budget to a joint session of the General Assembly, did so on Thursday evening with a forceful call for cooperative work on change.

The governorâ€™s proposed budget of $8.6 billion includes full funding for the stateâ€™s existing aid formula for public schools, calls for the institution of all-day kindergarten statewide, and sets up an initial round of $20 million to restore state support for school construction.

March 12, 2015

NEW YORK – Under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, Providence put the college basketball world on notice Thursday that they are not a team to look past, suffocating St. John’s with defense on their way to a 74-57 win in the quarterfinal round of the Big East Tournament.

March 11th

March 11, 2015

CENTRAL FALLS â€“ Students in third grade through the high school this month will be loaned Chromebook laptop computers, which school and city officials believe will aid students as they grow and transition to college and careers.
Classrooms in grades 3 through 12 in Central Falls Public Schools will become 1:1 computer-to-student learning environments, which city officials say supports an â€śequitable distribution and access to technology.â€ť

March 10th

March 10, 2015

CUMBERLAND — Abdullah Kaba was getting nervous. The Cumberland High senior had repeatedly emailed the UMass Lowell cross country and track & field head coach to stoke the recruiting fires, but had no luck in receiving a reply back.

Turns out a simple typographical error was preventing Kaba from properly connecting with River Hawks mentor Gary Gardner.

March 10, 2015

CUMBERLAND – It's more than fair to say Cumberland High varsity head coach Dr. Mark Andreozzi never anticipated the kind of dream season his Clippers have enjoyed.

Because his icemen captured the R.I. Division II Tournament championship a year ago with a near-perfect 22-1-0 overall record (against league opponents), Rhode Island Interscholastic League officials chose to bump his program up to Division I/Eccleston.

There they'd be forced to take on the best public school squads in the state, and Andreozzi knew it would be a big, difficult leap.